HomeMy WebLinkAboutvine-street_0059 FORM B BUILDING Assessor's Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 48/228 0 0 2277
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD Town/City: Lexington
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Place: (neighborhood or village):
Photograph
Address: 59 Vine Street
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: residential
Original: residential
Date of Construction: ca. 1898-1920
Source: assessors' records, historic maps, style
!a Style/Form: Colonial Revival
~ Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Front(facade)and right side elevations Wall/Trim: artificial siding and trim
Locus Map Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
,. None
� 5 47-41
r
Major Alterations (with dates):
�$ 0 imLArtificial siding (L 20th c)
234:? Condition: good
y ►►
Moved: no ❑ yes ❑ Date:
� , ✓. � ���, Acreage: 0.12
28218 %.
Setting: Narrow, winding residential road with a great
diversity of building scale, form, period, and style; irregular
a building setbacks and orientations.
Recorded by: Wendy Frontiero
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date (month/year): September 2015
12/12 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 59 VINE STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2277
❑ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
59 Vine Street is set to one side of a small wide lot, with a modest front setback, large side yard to the right, and a straight paved
driveway on the left. Maintained chiefly in lawn, the land is flat in front of the house and then slopes down away from the street.
An evergreen hedge lines the front and driveway sides of the property, and concrete walks lead between the street and the front
and right side entrances. The building consists of a 2 story main block with a small entrance vestibule on the front.
The three by one bay main block rises to a side gable roof with a slightly off-center chimney on the rear slope. Walls are clad
with artificial siding and trim. Windows have 6/6 double-hung replacement sash with no trim. The symmetrical facade has a
one-story, hip-roofed entrance vestibule with angled side walls in the center and a single window in each of the outer bays. The
side elevations both have a single window centered on each floor; the wall of the gable peak flares out slightly above the second
story. The right side elevation also contains an offset single-leaf door near the front with a concrete stoop.
Well-maintained, 59 Vine Street is typical of small, early 20th century farmhouse construction in Lexington. Although it has lost
its original siding and trim, the building is notable for its historic form and fenestration pattern, angled entrance vestibule, and the
flared tympanum on both end walls.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local(or state)history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the
owners/occupants played within the community.
One of the earliest roads in Lexington, Vine Street was established as part of the route between Lexington and Woburn in the
17th century. It formed the southwesterly end of this road until 1833, when the old highway was widened and straightened to
meet Massachusetts Avenue. Vine Street was sparsely settled through the 19th century; suburban infill developed gradually
through the 20th century.
A house of similar size, proportions, and siting appears in this location in 1898 and 1906, part of property fronting on Woburn
Street that was owned by John J. Roach. The 1927 map shows 59 Vine Street now on a separate lot from the Woburn Street
house (number 58), and with a garage in the back left corner of the Vine Street parcel.
John J. Roach was a carpenter, born in Ireland as was his wife Dora W. The 1920 census seems to place Margaret Buckley
here; she was a widow, born in Ireland, and identified as a farmer. She was followed in 1922 by Thomas O'Donnell, a stone
mason, and his wife Hannah. Subsequent residents included William McDevitt, who worked as a chauffeur, truck driver, and
fireman, and his wife Catherine (1935); both were born in Ireland. The McDevitt family lived here until at least 1955, when Mary
E. McDevitt, a teacher, was identified here with Catherine. By 1965, the house was occupied by Thomas J. Clinton, a lab
technician, and his wife Loretta L.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927,
1935, 1935/1950.
Continuation sheet I
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 59 VINE STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
0 2277
Lexington Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey, Period Summaries. http://historicsurvey.lexingtonma.gov/index.htm
Accessed Jul 23, 2015.
Lexington Directories: 1899, 1906, 1908-09, 1922, 1934, 1936.
Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1965.
Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980.
U. S. Census: 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940.
Worthen, Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington, Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998.
SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES
Left side and front(facade) elevations
Continuation sheet 2